As the slumping economy continues to wreak havoc on local government budgets, the cost of police service is being scrutinized like never before, prompting touchy debates throughout the region about the balance between public safety and fiscal sanity.

“City councils recoil at the prospect of cutting law enforcement services, and such proposals are met with strong public and police union opposition,” said Mark Weinberg, a retired city manager who served as interim city manager of San Bernardino from fall 2008 to April 2009.

But city councils and county supervisors have been forced to do exactly that, trimming spending for the once-sacred cows in an effort to close staggering budget deficits.

Police officers are some of local governments’ most well-compensated employees, with above-average salaries and lucrative pension benefits that far exceed most private-sector workers’. Public safety spending is typically the largest share of municipal budgets.

This year, facing a $90million budget deficit, San Bernardino County officials asked sheriff’s deputies and other county law enforcement officers to forego a pay raise and accept a two-tiered retirement system that would reduce pension benefits to future employees.

The deputies rejected that, leading to a realignment of deputies and work schedules aimed at stripping $9million from the department’s budget, largely by slashing overtime.

Officers in Rialto also said “no-go” to delaying an enhanced pension package which, when combined with a new pension for other city workers, will cost Rialto an additional $5million a year, starting in January.

In Pomona and Colton, officials studied, then walked away from plans to outsource their police services to sheriff’s departments, despite estimates of millions in savings.

Pomona’s concession deal with its police union, which is saving an estimated $3.6million, must continue beyond the 2010-11 fiscal year if the city is to continue to afford its own police force, Councilman Steve Atchley said.

“Otherwise we face a structural deficit of many millions of dollars. The problem’s not solved. It’s just delayed,” Atchley said.

Pomona’s police force has shrunk by nearly a quarter in just two years, from 200 officers to 154.

But decisions on whether to outsource or otherwise cut police spending can be influenced by factors beyond what’s best for a community, some say.

In Colton, some council members have implied that the political influence of the police and fire unions is behind the panel’s 5-2 rejection of a plan to get formal quotes on the cost of outsourcing. A recent audit estimated the city could save as much as $8.2 million by outsourcing police and fire services.

“I think right now, the city is being run by the public safety unions and not by the residents of our city,” Colton councilwoman Deirdre Bennett said.

“We want them to be fairly compensated. We want them to have good benefits,” Bennett said, but added: “We built mansions for them and all they need is family homes.”

“I think they were going to look at other alternatives because that would be best for the city,” Morenberg said. “It wasn’t to make us happy.”

“(Outsourcing) is like a last resort because most cities can control a lot more if they have their own agencies,” he said. “You have no control over raises, or no control over services rendered (if you outsource).”

Last week, the Colton council failed to muster enough votes to put a measure on the November ballot seeking to extend a utility user tax that would bring in about $5 million this fiscal year.

When the tax expires in June, the city will be forced to make more tough choices. Officials have said the loss of that revenue could mean layoffs for 16 police officers and nine firefighters.

Colton Councilman David Toro, who opposed the tax, said after the vote that layoffs may still be averted through union concessions and operational changes.

Police department layoffs were unavoidable in Redlands, one of the region’s more affluent cities.

“I think every city tries to avoid layoffs in both public safety functions, police and fire,” Councilman Jon Harrison said. “But when you’ve got to make cuts, you’ve got to make cuts.”

Redlands officials and police reached a contract deal earlier this year that requires each officer to give up 90 hours worth of work time and pay each year through 2012. And city officials say the tough times will require still more concessions from public safety unions.

Vacancies have resulted in Redlands’ police force decreasing from 98 officers to 75 during the past three years, said Derik Ohlson, president of the Redlands Police Officers Association.

The officer shortage is only compounded by the decrease in civilian staffing, so it takes longer to process reports and respond to non-life threatening calls, he said.

“It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to provide the service that we want to and that the citizens deserve,” Ohlson said.

In San Bernardino, home to the county’s largest police department, support withered for a plan to put a sales tax hike on the November ballot. The sales tax hike would have raised an estimated $2.5million at a time the city is working to close a budget gap of roughly $20 million.

Any new budget-cutting proposals for San Bernardino have yet to be released, but Mayor Pat Morris said that police layoffs are not the way to go.

Councilwoman Wendy McCammack favors a tough look at city executive salaries before any consideration of cuts to police and fire.

“Cities were formed for two purposes and only two purposes: police and fire – period,” McCammack said.

San Bernardino police officers agreed to concessions last month, including a continuation of salary cuts and transition to a two-tiered pension system.

In a sign of the city’s seriousness, San Bernardino City Manager Charles McNeely hired an outside negotiator for this year’s talks.

“I think things have changed for everybody,” said Rich Lawhead, president of the San Bernardino Police Officers Association. He described city negotiators as more “opportunistic” than in years past.

Current San Bernardino officers, like those throughout California, earn a “3 at 50” retirement benefit. The deal allows officers with 30 years of service to receive 90 percent of their highest salary, for life, beginning at age 50.

Future hires will receive “3 at 55,” which will cost less. That’s the same system county negotiators failed to convince sheriff’s deputies to accept for new hires.

San Bernardino’s mayor has said “3 at 50” is unsustainable, but Lawhead says he’s not convinced.

“Clearly we want a benefit that’s sustainable. Is it really not sustainable?” he asked.

When Weinberg stepped in as San Bernardino’s interim city manager near the start of the latest recession, the city had already begun slashing public safety spending, canceling its police helicopter program, cutting manpower on fire engines and winning 10 percent salary cuts from cops and firefighters.

Weinberg was forced to defend the unpopular proposals.

“When severe economic conditions strike, law enforcement cuts must be considered if parks and library programs and other core city services are to be salvaged,” he wrote. “This is a hard, cold reality – not a negotiating tactic.”

Andrew Edwards covers business and higher education for the Long Beach Press-Telegram. He has previously covered City Hall in Long Beach. He has spent his entire career in Southern California, having worked at publications including the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, The Sun and Daily Pilot before coming to Long Beach. He graduated from UCLA in 2003 after studying political science and history.

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